May 2008

Champagne Moments

I remember the day I got a call from United Media telling me they wanted to offer me a contract to be a syndicated cartoonist. Yay!

But hold the champagne, I thought. The contract was for what they call a “development deal.” That means you work together for six months, and at the end they decide whether or not to sell your comic to newspapers. About four months into my development deal, United Media informed me they planned to launch Dilbert. Yay!

But hold the champagne. There’s no guarantee that enough newspapers will buy the comic to make it successful. As it turned out, only a few dozen smaller papers picked up Dilbert. You need sales in major markets to really get things rolling. One day, after a few years of limping along toward oblivion, the Boston Globe decided to run Dilbert. Yay!

But hold the champagne. That doesn’t mean the readers of the Boston Globe will like the comic. It got off to a rocky start, but eventually it found an audience and stayed. Yay!

But hold the champagne. One major newspaper isn’t enough. I needed lots more. The new newspaper clients trickled in at nearly the same rate as existing clients cancelled. It was five steps forward and four steps back. My editor at United Media suggested that maybe a publisher would be interested in a Dilbert book, and if successful, perhaps that could get newspapers more interested. Andrews McMeel Publishing agreed to publish my business-themed book, “Build a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies.” Yay!

But hold the champagne. It takes a long time to write a book and get it published. About 18 months later, the book hit the market. It was a modest success, but didn’t set the world on fire. The book helped newspaper sales a little, and the publisher asked for another book. Yay!

The second book didn’t do as well as the first, although it made money. But at least new sales to newspapers were exceeding cancellations by a better margin. Yay!

And so it went, in ant-sized steps forward. Every pat on the back came with a kick in the nuts. I worked for ten years without a day off. During one particularly busy year, I held a full-time job at the phone company, wrote and drew Dilbert, and wrote a book called “The Dilbert Principle.” I didn’t sleep much that year. It was my first hard cover book. Yay!

The Dilbert Principle found the bottom of the best seller list fairly quickly. Each week it climbed until it hit a wall at #2. Dennis Rodman’s tell-all book held the top spot and refused to let go. You would think that having the #2 best selling non-fiction book would be a good reason to crack open the champagne. But I waited. I hoped. And each week I got the call from my publisher, “You’re number two again.” I was happy about my book’s success, of course, but something was missing.

Finally, I got the call. “You’re number one.” I can’t describe what that felt like. If you’re thinking it feels a lot like being number two, only slightly better, you missed it by a light year. I was home alone when I got the news, and I cried for about two hours. Life changed. Newspapers started snapping up Dilbert. Someone released the media hounds. Dilbert was showing up on the major magazine covers. I was booked on the morning shows. It was several years before I could come up for air.

I still haven’t popped the champagne. I just raise the bar for what would be the right moment, and tell myself how tasty it will be if I ever accomplish something special in my work. Apparently the thing inside me that makes me work so hard is the same thing that keeps me unsatisfied. It’s a package deal. The best you can hope for is a family that understands.

As you set out on the way to Ithaca
hope that the road is a long one,
filled with adventures, filled with understanding.
The Laestrygonians and the Cyclopes,
Poseidon in his anger: do not fear them,
you’ll never come across them on your way
as long as your mind stays aloft, and a choice
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Laestrygonians and the Cyclopes,
savage Poseidon; you’ll not encounter them
unless you carry them within your soul,
unless your soul sets them up before you.

Hope that the road is a long one.
Many may the summer mornings be
when—with what pleasure, with what joy—
you first put in to harbors new to your eyes;
may you stop at Phoenician trading posts
and there acquire fine goods:
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and heady perfumes of every kind:
as many heady perfumes as you can.
To many Egyptian cities may you go
so you may learn, and go on learning, from their sages.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind;
to reach her is your destiny.
But do not rush your journey in the least.
Better that it last for many years;
that you drop anchor at the island an old man,
rich with all you’ve gotten on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to make you rich.

Ithaca gave to you the beautiful journey;
without her you’d not have set upon the road.
But she has nothing left to give you any more.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca did not deceive you.
As wise as you’ll have become, with so much experience,
you’ll have understood, by then, what these Ithacas mean.

Fascinating - not the post - which as always was thought provoking - but the responses. Scott was simply sharing how things are *for him* - his driven nature that never seems to stop to pop that cork - and yet so many people write in to offer *advice* on how to fix things.

How about if we simply learn that everyone is different - some will be like that fisherman and happy with a few fish and some will never be quite satisfied and always looking for the next jackpot.

So far we've all reaped a lot of benefit from Scotts driven nature, without it there wouldn't be this great blog - any one know any other celebrity willing to put that much effort into communicating with the world?

Thanks for sharing Scott - it's fascinating to get a peek into your mind - and so interesting to see how "success" is built through many many tiny steps.

This is, quite literally, the one most inspiring thing I have ever read - it has motivated me to keep pushing and never stop and say "I've done it!" For this I am deeply grateful - it validates much that I've thought and felt but hadn't codified in my life, and it gives me new and better insights.

Finally, I realize that I got on the Dilbert bandwagon very early (I think my first D-book was "Shave" or "Willie," and I know I bought D-Principle before it hit #1). That makes me feel, perhaps for the first time in my life, like I'm ahead of the curve.

Thank you. And please, never stop doing what you do best.

Ned (who's been on a binge serial (and in-order) re-reading of every one of your books for the past 10 days or so - I'm currently on "Random")

It is highly motivating. If one becomes satisfied with oneself & one's work, the scope of reaching the sky is over. It's always a never ending quest for the dissatisfied lot and that's the key to their innumerable & immeasureable success.
In the true spirits one should always hold the champagne.
Truly a Masterpiece! Highly Motivating!

All the success is more than deserved, Scott. And your humbleness and good-witted attitude towards life is endearing and insightful. I hope you are always able to set the bar higher and higher. It's what keeps us going, so don't ever stop.

Scott, the lesson is that you never hold the champagne. You never know if and when your next minor victory is coming so you know what? Celebrate every victory. I used to be a scientist and the other scientists in my group taught me to celebrate the small stuff, cos it's all mostly stuff. Now that I'm a writer I do the same. First draft finished? Champagne. Agent loves it? Champagne. Publisher wants it? Top me up. First edit done, let's go again. Final draft? Keep poppin'. I intend to keep going on like this, to the book launch and beyond. That way if the book isn't a success...at least I enjoyed the dream on the way.

Inspired by this post, which I read yesterday, I forced myself to get up at 5:00 a.m. today to write. The past few weeks I've been hitting the snooze and finding reasons to justify sleeping in until time to go to the job. If I can keep it up, I know good will come out of it. Maybe I'll even pop open a bottle of champagne someday. Thanks, Scott, for the inspiration.

The real time to open the champagne is when your baby is born, and the second time will be hearing your own voice coming from that little person. The rest is just window dressing. I got that from a fortune cookie, but it is still right.

Hi Scott,
I love dilbert & i love the fact that its almost grown into a phenomenon. Althought I dont drink, I cant quite understand why u stopped from popping open that bottle of champagne u desire, success is a journey, not a destination...Enjoy the little things in life, dont miss out on them while trying to catch the bigger picture

You know, that was an incredible post, Scott. Never stop striving... but as others have said, no sense in not enjoying the ride and popping some champagne once in a while. Just know that the journey continues after the champagne bottle is empty.

In my mind I've always been number one and enjoyed each success, big or small. And not caring much about money other than having just enough I went camping for five days and drank all the beer. It was a successful trip. Yea, I'm number one even if the rest of the world doesn't know about it.
Billy B

Scott, thanks for sharing this story. It underscores what I continually tell my students: there is rarely a true "overnight success." Instead, there is almost always years of diligent preparation, unrewarded effort, near-misses, and then -- if you are really, really fortunate -- an event that catapults you into the limelight.

Then the world looks at you and says, "Look how easy he's got it. He draws ONE cartoon and he's an overnight success."